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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Oisin Doherty

Ireland World Cup squad: When will Vera Pauw name final panel?

Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw admits she has had 'sleepless nights' ahead of announcing her final squad for this Summer's World Cup.

The boss has given players plenty of chances to impress by naming a 36-person preliminary squad to take part in a mini pre-season prior to naming her final squad.

That squad is due to named tomorrow morning, June 28th, before 11am.

READ MORE: Katie McCabe kicks off World Cup preparation as squad returns to training after weekend break

Pauw has some tough decisions on her hands ahead of jetting off to Australia. FIFA only permits 23-player squads for their major International tournaments, meaning that Pauw will have to cut 13 players from the training camp.

There had been calls to increase the squad size to 26-players, as was the case for the men's World Cup last year, but this was swiftly shut down by FIFA.

With the exception of Katie McCabe, Denise O'Sullivan and a handful of others, the majority of the squad will be nervously awaiting the announcement of the final squad.

Amber Barrett is one who has surely booked her place on the plane with a two-goal salvo against Zambia last week. Those were the hero of Hampden Park's first goals of any nature since her famous strike against Scotland that guaranteed qualification for this tournament.

Further complicating things for Pauw has been the emergence of players who have only recently made themselves available for Ireland. She has spoken in the past about the difficulty of getting the balance right between picking the best players in each position, experience and rewarding loyalty of those who played a key role in qualification.

All will be revealed on Wednesday morning when Pauw finally names her 23-person squad.

Ireland will kick off their campaign against hosts Australia on July 20th before facing off with Canada on July 26th. they conclude their group against Nigeria on July 31st.

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